Prepositions and Locutions of Place | Catalan Grammar

Catalan place locutions identify a reference object and specify a relation to it: davant de “in front of,” darrere de “behind,” al costat de “next to,” prop de “near,” lluny de “far from,” dins de “inside,” and fora de “outside.” The final de links the relation to its reference point, so it contracts before masculine articles: davant del teatre, darrere dels arbres.

These expressions are not interchangeable with plain a or en. Som a l'estació locates us generally; som davant de l'estació places us on its front side. English often leaves orientation to context, whereas Catalan speakers choose the relation that helps a listener build a spatial map.

The vertical pair is developed separately in sota, davall, and a sota; here the focus is the wider map of front, back, proximity, boundary, and orientation.

Decision table

Question about the reference point	Locution	Example
on its front side?	davant de	davant de l'ajuntament
on its back/far side?	darrere de	darrere del pavelló
immediately beside it?	al costat de	al costat de la font
at a short, unspecified distance?	prop de	prop del mercat
at a great, unspecified distance?	lluny de	lluny del centre
within its boundary?	dins de	dins de l'armari
beyond its boundary?	fora de	fora del recinte
on a named side or compass bearing?	a la dreta/esquerra de; al nord/sud de	al nord de l'illa

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Keep two questions separate: on? asks for the whole location, while on respecte de què? asks for a relation to a landmark. A la plaça answers the first; davant de l'ajuntament answers the second.

Davant de and darrere de

Davant de locates something on the side treated as the front; darrere de selects the opposite side. Buildings and people have an intrinsic front, but with a neutral object the viewpoint or current direction of travel may establish the axis.

T'espero davant de la biblioteca, just al costat de la bústia.

I'll wait for you in front of the library, right next to the postbox.

Hi ha un aparcament petit darrere del poliesportiu.

There's a small car park behind the sports center.

With two people facing the same direction, davant meu means farther forward along that direction. With people facing one another, davant meu can mean “opposite me.” The physical scene resolves the perspective; the phrase does not mathematically fix it.

A la cua, l'Arnau era davant meu i la Cèlia, darrere meu.

In the queue, Arnau was in front of me and Cèlia behind me.

The possessive patterns davant meu/darrere meu and the analytic forms davant de mi/darrere de mi are standard. The possessive is conventionally masculine singular in this construction regardless of the referent's gender: use davant meu, not davant meva.

Enfront de often means “opposite/facing,” with open space or confrontation between the entities; davant de simply gives the front relation. In figurative prose, enfront de can also mean “faced with,” while davant de is common in the same function. Use a more precise spatial phrase when navigation matters.

Al costat de, prop de, and lluny de

Al costat de normally implies adjacency or immediate proximity. Prop de and lluny de grade distance without defining an exact measurement. English by may correspond to any of these, so translate the intended distance, not the word.

La parada és al costat del quiosc; no cal travessar el carrer.

The stop is next to the kiosk; you don't need to cross the street.

Vivim prop de l'estació, a uns deu minuts a peu.

We live near the station, about a ten-minute walk away.

L'allotjament és lluny del centre, però hi arriba un autobús cada vint minuts.

The accommodation is far from the center, but a bus goes there every twenty minutes.

These expressions can stand without a complement when the reference is understood: Viuen a prop?, No, força lluny. Al costat, however, often invites a salient neighboring reference: Seu al meu costat or simply Seu al costat when the available seat is obvious.

Degree words combine naturally with the distance pair: molt a prop, força lluny, massa lluny. Do not add English-style de after an independent answer: És gaire lluny? —No, és a prop.

Dins de and fora de: the boundary contrast

Dins de includes the located item within a boundary; fora de excludes it. The boundary can be concrete, institutional, legal, or conceptual.

Les bicicletes s'han de deixar fora de l'edifici, dins de l'espai senyalitzat.

Bicycles must be left outside the building, inside the marked area.

Fora de l'horari d'atenció, podeu deixar un missatge al contestador.

Outside business hours, you can leave a message on the answering machine.

The second sentence is temporal and abstract, but the same inside/outside boundary logic applies. Dins del termini means before a formal period closes; fora de termini means too late. Fixed expressions sometimes omit an article, so learn them as units.

The contrast is independent of distance. Something can be immediately fora de a door yet molt a prop de the room, or dins de an enormous park yet lluny de its entrance.

De, contractions, and when the complement is absent

Before an expressed noun phrase, the full locutions with de are a clear neutral model:

Following form	Result	Example
el	del	darrere del museu
els	dels	prop dels jardins
la / les	de la / de les	fora de la muralla
l'	de l'	dins de l'ascensor

Some of these locatives also occur without de in established standard or regional patterns, particularly before compact place references. Usage is not perfectly uniform. For an A2 learner, consistently retaining de before an explicit noun phrase is natural, transparent, and cross-regional. When no reference is spoken, remove the entire de phrase: Els lavabos són al darrere; la sortida és al davant.

Orientation: left, right, compass points, and viewpoint

Use a la dreta de / a l'esquerra de for lateral orientation and al nord de / al sud de / a l'est de / a l'oest de for compass relations. The contraction belongs to the first element (al nord); de still links the reference point.

Quan surtis de l'ascensor, la recepció queda a la dreta de la porta de vidre.

When you come out of the lift, reception is to the right of the glass door.

El poble és al sud de la serra, en una vall protegida del vent.

The village is south of the mountain range, in a valley sheltered from the wind.

Directions such as left and right require a viewpoint. If the listener could face either way, add it: a mà dreta quan entres, a l'esquerra mirant cap al mar. This is a discourse issue rather than a different preposition, but it prevents a grammatically correct instruction from being practically useless.

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A locution tells the geometric relation; the noun after de supplies the landmark. When the geometry depends on perspective, state the perspective explicitly.

Hi replaces a location

The clitic hi can replace a place phrase already known from context. It does not reveal whether the original phrase was davant de, dins de, or prop de; the antecedent supplies that relation.

Heu mirat dins del rebost? —Sí, ja hi hem mirat, i les ampolles no hi són.

Have you looked inside the pantry? —Yes, we've already looked there, and the bottles aren't there.

With a left-dislocated location, hi may resume it:

Darrere de l'edifici que estan reformant, hi han obert un pas provisional per als vianants.

Behind the building they're renovating, they've opened a temporary passage for pedestrians.

The fronted phrase contains an embedded relative clause and sets the scene for the whole statement. In neutral order—Han obert un pas provisional darrere de l'edifici—the resumptive clitic is not needed.

Questions, relatives, and scope

Catalan keeps the locution before its interrogative or relative dependent: Davant de quin portal ens trobem?, el portal davant del qual ens trobem. English-style stranding—Quin portal ens trobem davant de?—is not the neutral Catalan pattern.

Negation can contrast the landmark rather than deny the location altogether:

No ens trobarem davant del teatre, sinó darrere de l'estació.

We won't meet in front of the theater, but behind the station.

The no... sinó... structure gives narrow scope to the place phrase. Without the correction, No ens trobarem davant del teatre could simply cancel the planned meeting there.

A natural dialogue

—On és exactament el consultori? —Dins de l'edifici blau, al costat de l'oficina de correus. Entra-hi i gira a l'esquerra; és la segona porta, davant de l'ascensor. —Perfecte. T'espero fora si acabo abans.

—Where exactly is the clinic? —Inside the blue building, next to the post office. Go in and turn left; it's the second door, opposite the lift. —Perfect. I'll wait for you outside if I finish first.

The conversation moves from a broad container (dins de) to a neighboring landmark (al costat de) and then to a precise internal orientation (davant de). Independent fora works because the building is already salient.

Common Mistakes

❌ El taxi espera en davant de l'hotel.

Incorrect—do not copy the English sequence in front of as en davant de.

✅ El taxi espera davant de l'hotel.

The taxi is waiting in front of the hotel.

❌ La cafeteria és al costat el cinema.

Incorrect—the locution is al costat de, with del before a masculine article.

✅ La cafeteria és al costat del cinema.

The café is next to the cinema.

❌ Visc prop l'universitat.

Incorrect—link the reference point with de.

✅ Visc prop de l'universitat.

I live near the university.

❌ Quina botiga has aparcat darrere de?

Incorrect—this copies English preposition stranding.

✅ Darrere de quina botiga has aparcat?

Which shop did you park behind?

❌ La sortida és fora de el recinte principal.

Incorrect—de + el contracts to del.

✅ La sortida és fora del recinte principal.

The exit is outside the main compound.

Short correction task

Correct the locutions and contractions: La parada és al costat el mercat; el magatzem queda darrere de els tallers; quina casa viu davant de? The answers are al costat del mercat, darrere dels tallers, and Davant de quina casa viu?

Key Takeaways

Place locutions specify a relation and normally link an explicit landmark with de.
Contract de + el/els to del/dels.
Al costat de means adjacent; prop de/lluny de grade distance; dins de/fora de mark a boundary.
Front/back, left/right, and compass phrases may require an explicit viewpoint.
Replace an established location with hi, and keep the full locution before interrogatives and relatives.

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